What a Waste
by MadnessJones
Summary: G1. Junk is another word for garbage. It is also the name of a planet full of forgotten yet resilient sparks. Cybertronians won't be able to ignore these neglected beings forever though, when a Junkion sparkling finds its way to earth.
1. The Howling Bot

_Author's Notes: This is a story I've contemplated for a while now, and I'm excited to finally get started! It takes place in season 2 of G1, but was inspired by the movie and season 3. Also, I'm really happy to do another sparkling story. This one isn't in an extended continuity though; it's a standalone story. It'll be AU, and I'll do my best to make this one good because I've been wanting to do this idea for a while. This chapter is mostly just a prologue, but hopefully I did okay on it. Please review, favorite, and follow to see more :)_

* * *

Chapter 1

The Howling Bot

The Autobot base was surprisingly quiet. The Decepticons hadn't raided a power plant or concocted an evil scheme in weeks. The Autobots knew they couldn't get too comfortable, however. This calm just meant Megatron was going to storm in on their lives soon enough.

Skyfire was manning the controls of Teletran 1 with Jazz and Bumblebee. The white red and blue shuttle was grateful to have an administrative task for a change. He knew the Autobots needed his flying skills and massive cargo hold, but sometimes he got sick of being a glorified bus. If this war kept up much longer Skyfire considered installing a ticket machine that collected fare from his passengers.

None of the three Autobots held idle conversation during their shift. Jazz had an easygoing grin on his face as always, and Bumblebee looked bored enough to bang his own helm against the console. Skyfire smiled in amusement at Bumblebee's exaggerated look of misery as he held his chin in his servo and watched the monitor ping every few minutes. It was just like back in the science academy with-

Skyfire shook off that train of thought. Starscream used to get bored like that too; especially when they were working on a project that required incubation. It was still spark breaking to remember how Starscream, once his best friend, had shot him and left him for dead a mere two earth years prior. Skyfire spent millions of years frozen in the ice, and when he awoke everything had changed and his only guide to the world was his best friend Starscream. As it turned out though, Starscream didn't care about him anymore. He was only using Skyfire to gain an advantage over the Autobots and Megatron. It still hurt the big shuttle-former to think about the betrayal he felt on that cold snowy day.

Skyfire was forced away from his thoughts when Teletran's proximity alarm blared loudly throughout the room!

" _What is that?_ " Bumblebee shouted over the sound of the alert.

"Accordin' to a this, there's an unknown ship headin' straight for earth!" Jazz exclaimed as he checked the scanners, "It looks like it's gonna land close to where we are, possibly even in Central City."

"What should we do?" Skyfire asked.

"I'll contact Prime and see if he wants us to check this out," Jazz replied without a hint of stress, "Just keep an optic on the ship's progression, Skyfire."

"Of course, Jazz," Skyfire nodded and went back to work.

Skyfire worried about the situation. This could be anything. It could be Decepticons, but somehow it didn't seem likely. Decepticons usually used the space bridge to get to earth. It could be volatile cargo that wouldn't survive a trip in the space bridge, so Skyfire worried about that. The best case scenario would be if it were Autobots ready to come to their aid to stop Megatron's forces. Of course, it could be something that wasn't from Cybertron at all…

"Alright guys, Boss Bot says we can roll out any time," Jazz relayed the message, "Arm yourselves just in case, but don't fire on whoever's in that ship unless absolutely necessary. Let's boogie on outta here!"

The trio went outside into the cool night air. Skyfire transformed to allow Bumblebee and Jazz to get in. He wasn't really necessary for a short trip to Central City, but Skyfire was still grateful Jazz asked him to go. He really needed to get out of the base for a while and stretch his wings.

* * *

It only took them 5 minutes to make it to the crash site. The ship had been falling faster than they had originally thought. It landed in a field somewhere in southern Oregon; Skyfire couldn't remember the name of the town. Earth had so many cities and countries that it was often difficult for him to keep track of them all.

The ship had made skid marks in the mud and had landed in some unfortunate farmer's wheat crops. The Autobots went to where the ship was, and were surprised by just how unsightly this thing was! It was a small passenger pod that looked like it could seat 4, but it was made by many different parts from many other ships. It was cobbled together and held down by rivets, screws, bolts, and in some places even tape! The unsettling part was that the door looked as if it had been forced open.

"I'll go first to make sure everything's okay," Bumblebee volunteered, "I'll let you know if anything is wrong or if there are survivors."

Bumblebee then scuttled ahead of them; keeping low to the ground in case someone came out of that thing firing weapons at them. He approached the ship cautiously yet with a steeliness that came from vorns of training. He looked inside the ship, and nearly gagged when he saw the bodies!

"Guys, we're too late!" Bumblebee cried out once he regained his composure, "There are two passengers in here, both dead. I can't even tell what they transformed into, let alone who they were."

Jazz and Skyfire's expressions were that of shock and sympathy. After a second Jazz ran up to the scene, and Skyfire reluctantly trailed behind. Jazz looked inside, and saw that the bodies were broken apart, and there was fresh energon everywhere. The odd thing was though, many of the body parts looked not only dead but also like they had been decomposing for a long time. There was rust and grey metal everywhere!

"Do you think this one was a femme?" Bumblebee asked.

"Can't tell," Jazz shrugged, "The helm looks somewhat feminine, I guess, but the rest of the body doesn't even look like a body, let alone that of a femme."

Skyfire looked down at the remains as well, but he wasn't listening to the conversation between Bumblebee and Jazz. In fact, it was everything he could do to keep his intakes level and his spark pulsing steadily. This type of life form looked very familiar to him, but it didn't make any sense how they could be here. How could this possibly be what he thought it was? It had to be a mistake.

 _Please don't let this be from planet Junk, please!_ Skyfire thought to himself as he gazed down at the hodgepodge robots inside the ironically named 'life pod'.

Planet Junk was a place Skyfire had only visited once, and he never wanted to visit it again. It was a literal garbage dump full of lawless savage robots and no signs of true civilization. It was a world that only existed for Cybertron to dump its trash, and yet somehow life forms cropped up and claimed it as their own. Last time Skyfire had encountered these strange caricatures of robotic life he nearly didn't survive.

Skyfire was also afraid because of the door. If it had been forced open from the inside, then there really was another robot still out there. If there was something on earth from Junk...Skyfire shuddered at the implications. He almost envied Bumblebee and Jazz. They had no idea what sort of chaos had been wrought on this peaceful organic world.

* * *

Carly walked home from a party held by a bunch of her fellow college students. Most of the other students had gotten pretty drunk at that bar, and after a while Carly wasn't comfortable there anymore. She had studying to do and needed her mind to be sharp.

She had only gone to the party because it was the first time the popular girls had invited her to one of these functions. As the youngest student at MIT she was already well aware of the internal politics of high school, but college had even more rigid cliques due to fraternities and sororities. Carly always told herself she was only there to study for her future career as an engineer, but deep down she wanted to be accepted the same as any other young woman. Well, so much for that. She bailed early, so none of those drunkards would probably even want to talk to her anymore. She sighed and wrapped her jacket tighter around her body as the wind picked up.

She found a bus stop and sat down to wait for a ride back to her house. Most of the kids lived in dorms, but Carly paid the extra money to rent a house near campus. She liked her privacy, and the small lawn had lovely flowers growing along the sidewalk leading up to the door. She didn't know if the bus would run this late, but she really hoped so. It was midnight, and she was sure even the Autobots would be asleep by now. She didn't want to wake anyone else up to ask for a ride home.

She sat there for 15 minutes shivering in the cold night wind and waiting for a bus or a cab or something. The streets were so quiet. She had walked far from the excitement of the party, and was now sitting alone without even the slightest hint of movement around her beyond the changing street light. The only sound seemed to be from the wind.

That all changed when Carly suddenly heard a loud howling noise coming from the distance. She looked to see the direction the sound was coming from, but noted that road led to a dead end in the form of a scrapyard. Many called it an auto parts graveyard, because the owner had left it abandoned, and except for the occasional thief no one went in or out of that property anymore.

Carly was cold and getting bored of just waiting around for the bus, so she decided to check it out and see what was making that howling noise. Some would say Carly was crazy, but she preferred to think of it as fearless. She loved excitement, and she loved to solve problems. That was one reason she wanted to be a rocket scientist in the first place; because that way she could do both.

At first Carly thought the howling might be a dog, but there was something off about the sound. It didn't sound like a true howl, but rather how a sentient being would impersonate a howling animal. Also, there was a distinct mechanical element to the sound, like an Autobot or Decepticon.

Carly climbed the gates of the abandoned junkyard and landed on her feet on the hard patted dirt below. She was beginning to wonder if she'd made a mistake. After all, that sound could be a junkyard dog, and those things were vicious. Then again, it could also be a Decepticon. On the off chance it was an Autobot in trouble, however, she needed to find out for sure.

She made her way past rows and rows of rusty old cars. There wasn't really enough light for shadows, and yet in Carly's mind there were shadows everywhere. She stubbed her toe on a discarded muffler and shouted before she could stop herself. She heard a noise behind her suddenly grow quiet, and she turned in time to see something, or _someone_ , give its full attention to her.

Suddenly the being jumped down in front of Carly with a grunt, and Carly shined her flashlight on the creature. It definitely was a robot, but it didn't look like any Cybertronian Carly had ever seen. This thing was only as tall as Carly herself, and it was cobbled together from a bunch of old parts. It had thin strips of metal flowing from its head down its back all the way to its legs that reminded Carly of porcupine quills. Its optics were red, but very dim. The metal was mostly different shades of rust and brown paint, but some parts were just dead grey. It kind of looked female, but Carly couldn't tell. She was too busy wondering if this junkyard robot was going to kill her.

"Um...hi," Carly said weakly as she tried to wave and be friendly to the unknown robot monster crouching in front of her, "My name is Carly. What is your name?"

"Carnia, just Carnia," The little robot replied; affecting a James Bond style of speaking as she introduced herself.

"Carnia, that's unusual," Carly commented in what she hoped was an indulging tone of voice, "Where do you come from, Carnia? I don't think you're Cybertronian."

" _Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high..._ " Carnia sang, though her cracking tinny voice didn't exactly do the song any favors.

"Well, I can see you know a little about earth," Carly replied with a nervous chuckle, "That's great. So, are you an explorer, or are you a conqueror? Are you here to help the Decepticons, or maybe the Autobots?"

Carnia wasn't even listening anymore, however. Carly suddenly noticed something liquid coming from Carnia's optic, and noted that on rare occasions she had seen Autobots leak cleaning fluid as a way of crying. Carly stepped closer to get a better look, but Carnia just turned away and took a few steps to avoid Carly.

"Hey, Carnia? It's okay," Carly said consolingly, "Whatever happened to you, it's going to be alright."

Carly looked out at the horizon, and then looked up at the stars. It was clear that something terrible had happened to her, made even more apparent by what she said next…

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Carnia shouted loudly in the dead silence of the night, "Earth, the final frontier! We have gone where no man has gone before!"

After the disheveled femme spoke these words she began to sob. She fell on her knees and banged the ground with her fist. Carly didn't know what this creature was, but she could guess that Carnia had just lost someone very important to her in the attempt to come to earth. That left many questions in Carly's mind, but the biggest one was: What was so important about earth that Carnia and her departed friends would risk dying just to get there?


	2. And When The Sky Was Opened

_Author's Notes: Yay! I got chapter 2 out in a timely fashion! I'm happy with how this chapter turned out, but more importantly than that I am touched and a bit surprised at the support this fic is receiving! You guys are awesome, and I will try to make this story something special. So far it's fun writing this story, but the most challenging part is Carnia's dialogue. It's hard to think of quotes for every topic of conversation, but with a little research anything is possible :)_

 _P.S.: Every chapter in this fic will be named after an episode from a certain TV show. Whoever can figure out which show wins one internet cookie :)_

* * *

Chapter 2

And When The Sky Was Opened

Carly didn't know what to do. She tried to walk away from the little femme to find a pay phone and call the Autobots, but Carnia just wouldn't leave her alone. Everywhere Carly went Carnia went too, and her disjointed chatter was nearly incomprehensible half the time. It seemed like everything Carnia knew about English she learned from movies and TV. That sounded fine in theory, but in practice it made it very difficult for Carly to extrapolate the meaning behind Carnia's words.

"Okay, Carnia," Carly said after she found a pay phone, "I'm going to call some friends of mine. They're Autobots, from the planet Cybertron. Do you know anything about Cybertron?"

"E.T., phone home," Carnia nodded studiously.

"Um, I'm going to take that as a _yes_ ," Carly replied uncertainly, "Just be quiet while I make this call, okay?"

Carnia replied by sitting down on the pavement and smiling up at Carly. Her dental plates had several pieces missing, which gave her the look of a small child with a crooked smile. Carly couldn't help but smile back at the innocent look in those trusting red optics.

"Thank you," Carly replied in relief, "I'll only be a minute. Hopefully Ironhide or somebody will be able to pick us up and take us to the Ark."

Carly reached into her pocket and searched for some change to make the call, but realized to her chagrin that she had no money. Carly moaned softly in frustration and hung up the phone.

"Bad news, Carnia. I can't call anyone," Carly reported sadly, "I don't know what to do with you. You need to be with the Autobots so they can help you, but we can't walk there. It's 50 miles away. I'm not sure how we'll get there."

"Never fear *beep* *beep* _We're gonna make it after all!_ " Carnia sang at the top of her vocalizer before transforming into a rusty broken down looking motorcycle, "Lead on, McDuff!"

"Oh, so you _are_ a Transformer! That's great!" Carly exclaimed happily before climbing on, "Okay Carnia, just follow my directions, and we'll be at the Ark in no time!"

"Let's get dangerous!" Carnia purred as her engine revved, "To infinity and beyond!"

Carnia then drove away far more quickly than Carly thought she would be capable of doing. The little bike was going nearly 90 MPH, and Carly had to hang on tight to keep from falling off. After a moment though, Carly started to laugh with joy at the wind in her hair and the high speed they were going. This beat taking the bus any day.

* * *

Skyfire had brought Jazz and Bumblebee back to the Ark after they failed to find any traces of survivors from the crash site. There were mixed feelings all around. Jazz was sure something fishy was going on with that unknown life pod, Bumblebee was just sad its occupants died, and Skyfire was trying with all his might to keep his poker face (as the humans called it).

Skyfire was almost certain those dead robots were from Junk. He supposed they could achieve space travel after 10 million years, but that still left the question as to what kind of society they had formed in that amount of time. Part of him wanted to warn the Autobots of his suspicions, but at the same time he had no proof, and any scientist worth his energon doesn't present findings without evidence.

When the trio walked back to Teletran 1 they saw that their shift was being covered by Huffer, Gears, and Tracks. Ratchet was also in the room fighting with Perceptor over missing his bi-monthly physical, and Jazz couldn't help but chuckle at how cornered Perceptor looked at the moment.

"You give anybody any new dents, Ratchet?" Jazz teased as he strolled over to relieve Gears of duty.

"Watch it buster, you still haven't reported for your physical, either," Ratchet reminded the saboteur.

"Oh, uh, right. I just forgot. I'll be there. Heh heh," Jazz simpered; hoping it wasn't obvious that he was avoiding his check-up.

"Yo guys, I hate to break up the inquisition, but we got someone comin' this way," Huffer reported, "Oh, never mind. It's just Carly."

"Yeesh! What an ugly motorcycle!" Tracks cringed at the sight of all that rust, "I always thought Carly had more good taste than that."

"Why is Carly here so late?" Bumblebee wondered out loud, "It's 1:30 AM. She might be in trouble. Open the door for her, Huffer!"

"Yeah, yeah...I always have to do everything around here…" Huffer grumbled under his breath as he opened the door.

Carly drove through the entrance and straight into the control room to see the 'Bots. Bumblebee and Jazz smiled wide at their friend, and even Tracks gave a friendly wave despite his discomfort with the rusty bike. Carly smiled and dismounted her ride, which transformed back into Carnia, and that was when _all pit_ broke loose…

" **AAAHH**!" Every Autobot simultaneously screamed when they saw the sparkling.

"It's a zombie!" Huffer shrieked as he backed against the wall and held onto Gears.

"It's got cosmic rust!" Gears shouted as he scraped his pedes against the floor to try to back up beyond the wall.

"It's hideous!" Tracks exclaimed; frozen in place by fear.

The Autobots shouted and spoke over each other in an effort to make sense of this abomination in their ship. No one knew what it was; only that it looked like it was already dead.

" _Stop_!" Skyfire shouted above the bedlam as he held his arms out to calm everyone, "No one make any sudden movements. That is a Junkion. They can be very violent when provoked. I repeat. No. Sudden. Moves."

Carly was utterly confused by the way the Autobots were acting. She assumed because Carnia was an alien robot like them that they would know how to help her. Instead, they were acting like Carly let a wild coyote loose in the base.

"Skyfire, what _is_ that thing?" Ratchet asked through gritted denta, "You said it was a...junk-on?"

"Junkion," Skyfire whispered, "They're a primitive race that lives on planet Junk. They are very excitable, so we have to be careful."

"Planet _Junk_?" Huffer scoffed, "That's not an inhabited planet! That's where Cybertron dumps its garbage!"

"Give a hoot! Don't pollute!" Carnia snapped at Huffer, and the purple and orange minibot flinched in terror.

Skyfire gasped when he heard her speak! When he had seen the Junkions 10 million years ago they had been completely nonverbal, but this one not only spoke but also spoke in English!

"That's amazing. You can talk!" Skyfire exclaimed jubilantly as he cautiously stepped closer to Carnia, "May I ask you a few questions, young femme?"

Carnia turned to look at Carly with a worried expression on her face plate. She grabbed Carly's arm and in a strained voice asked "Is it safe?"

"Of course, Carnia. Skyfire is a kind mech. He's just curious about you," Carly explained comfortingly as she rubbed Carnia's rusting shoulder guard, "I know the Autobots got a little...overly excited at seeing you, but you'll soon see that they are good mechs and can be your friends. You'll be okay, I promise."

Carnia sighed deeply, looked up at Skyfire's imposing height, and resolutely said "And now, our feature presentation."

"Hm...I'm not sure what that means," Skyfire replied; confused.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance," Perceptor offered, "She might feel more comfortable speaking in Cybertronian," Then Perceptor switched languages as he asked " **So Carnia, how old are you**?"

Carnia's optics grew wide and glazed over. Perceptor tried asking a different question in Cybertronian just in case age was a forbidden subject among the Junkions. He asked her how she liked earth so far. Carnia responded by tilting her helm to one side and giving Perceptor a quizzical look.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate!" Carnia shouted in frustration, "Are you talkin' to me? I said are you talkin' to me!?"

Her shouting scared the Autobots not brave enough to stand close to her. Tracks actually fainted from the stress! Even Perceptor backed up a few steps. Skyfire knew though that the best way to earn her respect was to not show fear. He bent down so she could see him better and tried to scrutinize her words.

"You speak English, but not Cybertronian," Skyfire stated more to himself than to her, "Yet even your English words seem...rehearsed."

"That's because she's quoting TV," Carly informed him, "I don't know why, but she only speaks and sings in TV and movie phrases."

"Well, that certainly complicates things," Skyfire replied; disheartened, "It would seem that the Junkions haven't improved as much as I had hoped. She's not really talking, but rather just parroting what she has heard before. It doesn't really help us. She's probably just as barbaric as her elders were when I met them."

"Hey! Come down here and say that to my face!" Carnia barked at Skyfire, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"

Just in that moment Wheeljack walked into the room carrying a part for Ratchet's medical berth that had gone on the blink. When he walked into the room he saw Tracks had offlined in the middle of the floor, the minibots were huddled in a corner like trapped turbo rats, Ratchet and Perceptor were near Teletran 1 staring at Skyfire who was talking to Carly and-

"A sparkling!" Wheeljack exclaimed cheerfully, "I haven't seen a sparkling in ages! Oh, and it's a little femme! Hi sweet spark, my name is Wheeljack. What's yours?"

"They call me Carnia," Carnia replied with a smirk, "Last time on The Ark: Skyfire introduced himself and then stuck his pede in his mouth. The Autobots discovered a long lost secret, and Carnia lost her creators in a fiery explosion. Film at eleven. And now back to our regularly scheduled program."

"Oh, no! You lost your parents?" Wheeljack asked; concerned for the sparkling's well being.

"Wait, _that's_ what she said? How can you tell?" Gears asked.

"Because she said so," Wheeljack shrugged as if it should be obvious, "Why are you guys just standing around? Half of her body parts are already dead and need to be replaced! She could have internal bleeding, and all this rust can't be healthy for such a tiny sparkling!"

"Wheeljack, Carnia is a Junkion," Skyfire stated, "They're made from the dead bodies of other mechs and femmes that are thrown away on planet Junk. She's supposed to look like that."

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Gears exclaimed, and then actually purged behind a console, "Did you say they make their creations out of…?"

"Corpses, yes," Skyfire nodded in confirmation, "Listen, I don't know how they got there, but 10 million years ago I was on an expedition with Starscream in search of new sources of energon. Starscream crashed on the planet Junk and was severely injured, so I flew down to rescue him. I was attacked by a horde of these unknown beings that we later called Junkions. I barely escaped, and I too was injured. Starscream and I were trapped on that planet for fifteen deca-orns, and in that time we silently observed the habits and behaviors of the Junkions. We even wrote and published a paper on them."

"Um, Skyfire?" Perceptor interrupted sheepishly, "I don't know how to tell you this, but no such paper exists. I've never heard of the Junkions, and typing it into Teletran 1 offered no results despite this being the most extensive collection of knowledge known to Cybertron."

"But that's impossible!" Skyfire protested, "The paper was delivered directly to the science council by...Starscream! I can't believe this! Why would be refuse to publish our work? He worked on that essay about the Junkions with just as much effort as I did. Why would he hide their existence? That report could have helped the citizens of Junk to have access to energon, supplies, and could have established their separate government in the optics of Cybertron's senate. It wouldn't have harmed anyone. Why would he hide this?"

"Aw, I think she likes me," Wheeljack cooed when Carnia started poking his glowing head fins.

"It figures you could tame a freak of nature, given you made the Dinobots," Huffer remarked, "At least she's probably smarter than them."

"Actually, there is one way in which the Junkions are unrivaled geniuses," Skyfire told them.

"Oh yeah? This I gotta see!" Gears snorted sardonically.

"And you shall," Skyfire replied patiently to the insolent minibot, "Ratchet, please allow me the use of your scalpel."

Ratchet handed Skyfire the scalpel, though he was just as nervous as anyone about Skyfire giving such a sharp object to a half-feral sparkling. Skyfire didn't give Carnia the device, however. Instead, Skyfire quickly cut a large gash into his arm; screaming in pain as he did so! Everyone gasped, and Carnia hid behind Carly (despite the human girl being thinner).

"Carnia, could you fix my arm for me please?" Skyfire asked politely as he showed her his new injury.

Carnia looked at the cut with flowing energon, then at Skyfire's face, and then at her surroundings. Skyfire's behavior seemed unstable, and Carnia was nervous, but she saw that Carly was encouraging her to help him. For some reason, Carnia felt like she could trust Carly more than anyone else she had met so far. Probably because Carly was one of the talking-box people. To the Junkions, the talking-box people were the mysterious organics that told them how life worked. The talking-box people could do anything, go anywhere, and be anything they wanted to be. Carnia felt honored being with Carly, because Carnia was the first of her kind to ever meet a real talking-box person.

"I'll patch you up, money back guarantee!" Carnia proclaimed as she started stalking around the room in search of supplies to repair Skyfire.

The others gave her a lot of space as she looked around. She decided to just go for the direct approach and rip some of the orange metal out of the wall. Everyone was surprised that a mere sparkling was strong enough to cause such damage with her bare servos!

Carnia then went back to where Skyfire was standing and waiting patiently. He didn't say anything, because he knew this skill had to be seen to be believed. With a speed that could rival Ratchet's, Carnia turned her index digit into a welder and started melting down the orange metal piece until it was the perfect shape to fit the injury. Then she welded the new metal to Skyfire's cut, turned off the welder, and then wiped off the excess energon. She was like a one-bot pit crew.

"Amazing! A sparkling shouldn't have any sort of medical knowledge, let alone be able to do that!" Perceptor exclaimed; still staring at Skyfire's newly healed wound.

"I know, but all Junkions are capable of this level of medical expertise," Skyfire told them, "They couldn't talk when I observed them, but the older ones would show the younger ones how to graft parts, repair wounds, and even recycle energon back into a body after it had been bled out; something I might add Cybertronians still do not know how to do."

"Incredible," Bumblebee, who had been quiet most of this time, finally said, "Carly, where did you find her?"

"In a junkyard," Carly replied with a shrug, "I'm guessing that's a close substitute to their natural habitat?" She asked, and Skyfire nodded, "I see. So, um, can you take care of her until we figure out how to get her back to her home planet?"

" _No_!" Three or four of them said in unison.

"Aw, why not?" Wheeljack whined, "She's so cute!"

" _Cute_? That prickly rust bucket?" Huffer groused as he crossed his arms over his chassis, "No way! She'll tear us apart in our recharge and turn our plating into pelts! I don't care where she goes, but she can't stay here!"

"I think we should discuss this with Boss Bot," Jazz suggested.

Carnia, however, was listening to this conversation, and while they all spoke a strange dialect she could tell what they were saying nonetheless. They were trying to decided whether or not to keep her on board their mothership. Carnia had been told from the time she was brand new in mint condition that shiny robots from outer space were bad and would hurt her. She didn't want to stay with them. She wanted to stay with her guardian angel Carly!

" _Noooo_!" Carnia suddenly screamed, and then she clung onto Carly for dear life, "Not the chair! _Not the chair_! I'll never let go, Jack! Never let go! No exchanges, refunds, or returns! Don't make me _go_!"

Carnia was hysterical as she spoke, and Carly had trouble breathing with the powerful young Junkion squeezing her like a teddy bear. The Autobots saw Carly was in distress, so Jazz and Bumblebee pried the sparkling away from Carly. Carnia started crying and screaming really loud when she was separated from Carly, and the blonde woman felt her heart break for the little orphaned alien.

"I'll take her," Carly found herself saying before she even knew what she was doing.

The Autobots looked at her in shock, but she knew she had to do something for Carnia. Carnia didn't trust anyone else except her. The little thing needed her.

"Are you sure about this, Carly?" Bumblebee asked softly, "We know so little about her, and if she attacks you then what?"

"I know it's a risk," Carly replied resolutely, "But she needs me. Tomorrow I'll talk to Optimus about this. I mean, I guess you're all involved now. In the meantime, I need to go home and get some sleep."

"I'll drive you," Bumblebee offered.

"Not necessary," Carly replied as she pointed with a thumb to Carnia, "She should drive me so she can get familiar with the road."

"Hi ho diggety!" Carnia whooped as she gracefully transformed into bike mode.

Carly chuckled at Carnia's antics and then got on the motorcycle and left. The Autobots watched her go with the minibots feeling relief, most others feeling confusion, and the scientists and Jazz feeling apprehension. The only one that seemed unfazed by the unusual sparkling was Wheeljack, and to be fair, Wheeljack was crazy. Speaking of which...

"Wheeljack, do you have any idea how the Junkions got a hold of an earth television set capable of receiving a signal from space?" Ratchet asked accusingly.

"Well..." Wheeljack wheedled sheepishly, "A couple years ago I tried to improve Sparkplug's TV and broke it, so I sent it to the Cybertronian dump when Omega Supreme was making a run that way."

"If it was broken then what harm would that do?" Gears asked cluelessly.

"Seriously? Did you not see the sparkling with super-healing powers?" Bumblebee asked as he put a servo on his hip.

Everybody started glaring at Wheeljack then, realizing that his actions had corrupted the culture of a primitive robotic race. All Wheeljack could do was wave at them and be grateful they couldn't see him simpering through his welder's mask.


	3. Little Girl Lost

_Author's Notes: Well, this is yet another fic that is victim to "Great idea; not enough time". I really didn't mean to go this long without an update, but it's hard to keep up with all the ideas that come at me like angry plot bats. Yeah, forget plot bunnies; I now officially have plot bats! Anyway, I'm surprised no one has tried to guess which TV show the chapter titles are taken from, but I suppose that doesn't matter. The point is it keeps with the theme of quoting Hollywood. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter of What a Waste :)_

* * *

Chapter 3

Little Girl Lost

Carly found herself at a loss when it came to what to do about Carnia. She tried to take Carnia back to the junkyard for the night, and at first that seemed fine with the little Junkion, but when Carly left the scrapyard Carnia followed her. Carly couldn't shake the sparkling, so she decided that the best option was to take Carnia back to her house near campus until she could think of a better idea.

Carly showed Carnia a parking space, and the motorcycle-former seemed content to recharge right there under the stars and the big oak tree. After a few minutes, however, Carly felt guilty about leaving the sparkling out in the elements, so she brought a blanket and draped it over Carnia so she wouldn't be cold.

Carly went to sleep around 5:00 AM, and was grateful she didn't have classes the next day. Five hours later, however, she was awakened by the sound of her TV blaring in the living room.

The young woman forced herself to get up to see what was going on. She rubbed the crust out of her eyes and blearily looked at the scene. Carnia had walked into her house, her rusty footprints all over the beige carpets, and she was now sitting on the floor watching the news.

"Carnia...Good morning," Carly finally said, wanting to ask what she was doing in the house but feeling guilty about thinking that way about the sparkling, so she didn't voice her distaste for the mess made of the house.

"Good morning, Vietnam!" Carnia shouted cheerfully; a little too cheerfully for so early in the morning, "Got milk?"

"Um...huh?" Carly asked; confused by why Carnia would want milk.

"Energon, part of a complete breakfast," Carnia elaborated, "Some assembly required."

"Oh! You're hungry!" Carly exclaimed when she finally understood.

"By Jove, I think she's got it!" Carnia likewise exclaimed as she slapped her fist against her hand in triumph, "This conversation is brought to you by energon, the San Francisco treat."

"Okay, okay. I don't have any energon in the house, so we'll have to go to the Autobot base to get you some," Carly explained, "Do you think you're strong enough to ride all the way to Mount St. Hillary?"

"Oh no! Gravity's increasing on me!" Carnia wailed as she pretended to struggle to get up, "Operators are standing by..."

"Great, so you want me to go by myself and bring the energon back?" Carly asked a little more impatiently than she meant to.

"I will gladly pay you back Tuesday for some energon today," Carnia pleaded; her red optics twinkling in the way only a sparkling's can, " _Please_?"

"Oh, alright," Carly chuckled as she ran her hand over Carnia's prickly hairlike quills, "I'll be back shortly, just stay here. I'll turn the TV to an educational channel so you can learn some useful things while I'm gone. New phrases, the alphabet, colors, you name it. It's all there. Oh, here's a good video for you to watch..."

Carly then popped a Barney The Dinosaur tape into the VCR, and Carnia stared at it; transfixed as the goofy purple abomination sang to a bunch of human children. Carly sighed in relief, but then realized she was committing a terrible parenting sin; she was letting _television_ babysit a child in her care.

"I won't be gone long, Carnia. Just stay out of trouble, okay?" Carly called out as she was about to leave, "I promise I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere! Bye, kiddo!"

" _So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye,_ " Carnia sang as Carly left.

Carly couldn't help but smile and giggle at the sparkling's adorable antics, even if she was leaving rust stains all over the carpet and vegetating her processor in front of the TV. There was just something about that scruffy sparkling that warmed Carly's heart.

* * *

When Carly arrived at the Ark the first 'Bots she saw were Wheeljack, Skyfire, and Perceptor. They were working around the table in the control room on a new invention and didn't even notice her come in.

"And you're certain this won't explode?" Skyfire asked Wheeljack nervously.

"Positive, this new plate maker will revolutionize the way we repair our ship and ourselves," Wheeljack proclaimed proudly, but then sheepishly added, "But mostly just the ship. I can only program this thing to make orange plates for some reason. Maybe I just need to add a palette swap feature..."

"Excuse me, guys?" Carly called up to the 'Bots, and they all smiled when they saw her.

"Carly! How are you, sweet spark?" Wheeljack greeted her warmly, "How's that new sparkling you found?"

"She's doing fine," Carly replied with a smile, "Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you guys. I was wondering if I could borrow a cup of energon, so to speak."

"Oh, you'll need considerable more than that," Perceptor replied; not getting the joke, "Sparklings don't eat much, but they need to refuel often. At least, I think the same rules would apply to a Junkion. Skyfire, you're our resident expert on the species, how much energon do you believe she will consume in one sitting?"

"I'm not sure," Skyfire confessed, "I've seen them go orns without refueling, but when they do I notice they tend to be rather greedy about their fuel. I'm not sure they even know how to stop eating once they start."

"Haha, reminds me of a puppy I had when I was a kid," Carly chuckled, "So, may I have some energon for Carnia? She seemed really insistent when I woke up today. I don't know when the last time was she ate."

"Um, Carly, forgive me for asking this, but..." Perceptor seemed uncomfortable with the subject he was about to broach, but he knew someone had to take pragmatic action concerning their new _guest_ , "...Are you sure you should feed her at all? I mean to say if you refuse to feed her eventually she'll expire. That could prevent a planetary crisis from erupting, given that we know Junkions can be rather dangerous. Are we sure it's wise to keep this one alive?"

"Perceptor! I'm surprised at you!" Wheeljack scolded the red microscope-former, "You sound just like a Decepticon! We don't kill people for being inconvenient or potentially dangerous! We don't know anything about Carnia, and what I've seen so far doesn't point toward her being a threat anyway. She's been a good sparkling, and I won't hear you talk like that!"

"I'm not trying to be sparkless, Wheeljack," Perceptor replied placatingly, "I merely suggest we don't let our guard down so easily. For all we know that Junkion ship that crashed could have been the beginning of an invasion force. We don't know what they want, but we do know they can be aggressive. All I'm saying is be careful."

"Hey, careful or not I have a sparkling in my house that needs energon!" Carly pointed out; halting further argument, "If you can't give me any then I'll find it elsewhere, but I'm not letting Carnia starve! Besides, all she's done since I brought her home is sleep in a parking space and watch TV. That doesn't exactly spell _America's Next Top Megatron_ to me. Oh no, now I'm speaking in TV quotes too! Oh man, I need a vacation."

Skyfire, who was trying to stay quiet on the matter, went to the dispenser and brought Carly back a cube of energon. He knew the human probably couldn't carry anything more than that. Wheeljack volunteered to take her home since she took the bus, and put the cube in his trunk for her. Carly didn't know what the other Autobots had against Carnia, but she was grateful to at least have Wheeljack on her side.

* * *

When Carly returned with the energon cube, which was quite heavy for the petite human, she found Carnia sitting in the same spot she had been before, with one glaring difference. Carly's furniture was moved into a circle, and the circle was filled with broken glass, strewed plants and dirt, garbage from the trash cans, and pages from books that had been torn; including Carly's textbooks on computer science!

"Carnia, what did you _do_!?" Carly shouted in equal parts anger and shock.

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home," Carnia muttered as she continued what she was doing; drawing on a scrap piece of paper.

"Ugh! I guess it's my fault for leaving you here by yourself," Carly finally conceded, "But from now on I don't want you to make a mess. Understand?"

"What'choo talkin' bout, Willis?" Carnia asked as she pouted at Carly.

"Look, I know you come from a planet of garbage, but we do things differently here on earth," Carly tried to explain, "Here we keep things neat and tidy. Well, for the most part. Anyway, I'll just clean this up later. For now I have energon for you. Eat up, or drink up, or whatever you do with this stuff."

Carnia swiftly grabbed the cube and hefted it over her helm to drink despite the fact that the cube was almost as big as she was! She gulped down the energon like a frat boy guzzling down a keg of beer. Carly scooped some of her trash back into the can while Carnia finished her energy meal. It only took five minutes for Carnia to completely down the full cube of energon.

" _Ah_ , good to the last drop," Carnia sighed contentedly, "And now back to our feature presentation."

With those words Carnia went back to her drawing. Carly cleaned up for a few more minutes, but then was just curious enough to look down at what Carnia was drawing. She saw a brown circle that was supposed to be a planet with four beings standing on top of it. Carnia wrote the names in English letters, which Carly found surprising. The smallest figure said 'Me', so that one was Carnia. There were two bigger figures that said 'Mom' and 'Dad' respectively. Then there was a figure larger than every other person in the picture, and this one was simply called 'Gar'.

"Who's Gar?" Carly asked curiously as she continued to look at the detail in the childish crayon drawing.

"Gar," Carnia nodded sagely, but didn't elaborate.

"Um, yes, I can read the name, but who is he?" Carly asked again in a gentle tone of voice, "Is he your brother? Your grandfather? Your uncle? Who?"

" _Be king undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am_!" Carnia sang as she rocked her shoulders back and forth to the beat, and then suddenly shouted, "Long live the Gar!"

"Oh, so Gar is a title," Carly surmised, and Carnia nodded, "Kind of like a king, or in the case of the Autobots, a Prime," another nod from Carnia, "I see. I didn't know your people had a government like that. How does one become Gar? Is it a family heritage thing like in Europe, or are they elected like a president or prime minister? For that matter, I never really asked how Optimus became a Prime. I bet that would be an interesting story."

Carnia was no longer paying attention. She had gone back to drawing her family, planet, and Gar. Carly sighed, knowing Carnia needed help she wasn't getting. She had only spent a day with the sparkling, but she was already growing to love her. If they couldn't get Carnia home, then she needed to go somewhere. Carly decided in that moment that if Carnia couldn't find another place that the college student would adopt the little Junkion sparkling. She just hoped it didn't come to that. An overworked student wasn't exactly the ideal candidate to adopt a giant alien robot.

* * *

The next two weeks of Carly's life was divided between college and caring for little Carnia. She taught the sparkling to use a telephone so she could call if there was an emergency. The problem was, there _always_ seemed to be an emergency.

On day three of Carnia's stay Carnia called Carly because she had accidentally jammed two CDs into the computer and ruined them. Carnia fixed the computer just fine, but she was upset because she ruined the game CDs. Carly ended up buying some cheap knock-off games to avoid overspending on her budget. With Carnia's penchant for getting into trouble she knew she needed to save every penny she could.

Day four was a bit more serious since Carnia's arm fell off when the joint rusted away and she needed parts to repair herself. Carly rushed to the hardware store and bought everything her sparkling would need, only to come home and see that Carnia had already replaced her broken joint with parts from Carly's car! Carly spent the rest of the day fixing her car instead of her sparkling.

Day six turned out to be a false alarm. Carnia called saying it was the end of the world and that aliens were invading. Considering the Decepticons had been quiet lately, Carnia wondered if this was them finally playing their hand. Carly rushed home to see what Carnia knew and to protect her. When Carnia panicked while holding the VHS cover to _Mars Attacks_ , however, Carly realized the little Junkion thought the movie was real. She spent the rest of the day explaining that it was just a movie and comforting the distressed sparkling.

During this time Carly always counted on Wheeljack or Ironhide to show up and bring energon cubes for Carly to give to her little rascal. Wheeljack always wanted to visit with Carnia, which caused Carly's neighbors to stare when the robots transformed. Ironhide didn't much care for the sparkling but also didn't hate her either. He knew how difficult life could be with younglings since so many Autobots had been raised since sparklinghood among the Autobot ranks. He knew his friend Carly would need all the support she could get, so he just grit his denta and did the best he could to be there for her.

After two weeks of dealing with daily drama, however, Carly felt like she needed to get out of the house for a while. She told Carnia that they could go anywhere they wanted for the day. What Carnia wanted to do surprised Carly to say the least.

"You want to _what_?" Carly asked just to make sure she heard that right.

"Meet the parents!" Carnia replied jovially as she held up a photo of Carly's parents, "Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."

Carly smiled at Carnia's forthright yet innocent statement. Carly had told Carnia about her parents that lived upstate, but she wasn't sure Carnia had been listening. Now Carnia wanted to meet Carly's parents for herself. Well, Carly hadn't been by to see them in a few months, so she agreed and the two set off for northern Oregon.

* * *

Carly's mom and dad were both thrilled that their daughter was coming to see them and made sure there was a hot meal waiting for their little girl. Well, the hot meal was a pizza, but to be fair neither of Carly's parents could cook. Her father was a tech genius that worked on industrial computers, and her mother was a retired schoolteacher. Both had been busy most of their lives, but they always did their best to make time for their only daughter.

Her mom checked the front window for the fifteenth time to see if Carly was there, and this time she saw her daughter pulling into the driveway on a junky motorcycle. She waved from the window and then rushed to the door to greet Carly.

"Goodness, money must be tight," Carly's mother muttered to herself, "I could have sworn she had a car."

The older woman opened the door and ran out to see Carly. Carly hugged her mom tight and then stood back again. Everything was normal, but then the motorcycle started changing shape until it looked like some sort of wild child robot!

"Oh! Goodness, you gave me quite a start!" Carly's mother exclaimed when she saw the little robot girl, "You must be one of Carly's Autobot friends. My name is Lora, and my husband Phil is inside. What is your name?"

"Carnia," Carnia replied as he held her servos behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heel struts, "Nice digs."

"Um, thank you dear," Lora replied warmly, "I must ask why you chose a rusty bike as your alt mode though. I remember meeting that one nice robot. What was his name again, Carly?"

"Ironhide," Carly supplemented.

"Yes, Ironhide. Not much of a name, but he transforms into a sturdy looking van. That's the kind of vehicle that's safe for my daughter to ride in," Lora nodded firmly.

"Mom, _please_. She's just a sparkling," Carly urged, "Don't insult her."

"What's a sparkling, dear?" Lora asked.

"It means she's a baby robot," Carly explained in a way she felt wouldn't invite any more questions.

They were interrupted when Carly's dad hollered out and said "Hey ladies, pizza's getting cold!"

"Pizza pizza!" Carnia exclaimed even though she wasn't sure what pizza was.

"Hm, well, your little sparky is small enough, I suppose she could come inside with us and chat," Lora offered.

"Thanks mom," Carly replied gratefully, but then added, "And the word is _sparkling_."

They went inside, and at first everything seemed fine with the family eating pizza and Carnia just sitting there watching their friendly exchange with a smile plastered on her face plates. Things started to go wrong, however, when Carnia got bored and left the dining room to go into the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen Carnia saw all sorts of great stuff. There were toasters, an oven, a fridge, a lamp, a table with three legs, and four chairs. There were so many new things this stuff could be made into. There were so many possibilities to make this place look like a home.

"Act now while supplies last," Carnia said to herself with a smirk, "Get your credit card ready. Call now!"

In the dining room, meanwhile, the conversation had turned to how Carly met Carnia since her parents were curious about the rust-covered youngling.

"Well, I found her in a junkyard," Carly explained, "She isn't really an Autobot, or even a Cybertronian. She's from a planet where Cybertronians dump their garbage. No one knows how the Junkions came to exist on that planet, but Carnia is one of them. She's been living at my place for two weeks because the Autobots wouldn't take her. I've never seen them act like that before, but something about Junkions really freak them out. Carnia needs me."

"Hm, maybe they were on the planet first and then the Autobots started dumping their trash there," Phil suggested, lumping all Cybertronians in the category of _Autobots_ since he had trouble remembering all of the terms, "Maybe it's like a colonization slash invasion thing. Like what happened with the Native Americans."

"I don't know. _They_ don't know. Nobody knows!" Carly cried out; exasperated.

"Honey, did you ever consider the Autobots might have a good reason for being so jumpy?" Lora asked as gently as she could, "I mean, I hope they're wrong, but what if Carnia grows up to be something dangerous? What if the Decepticons made a deal with the Junkions in the past or something?"

"I don't think so, but I don't really know," Carly shrugged, "I don't know the Junkions, but I do know Carnia. She's a smart, energetic, and surpringly insightful girl. Well, um, _femme_. Actually...I've been thinking about adopting her, since her parents died and all..."

Carly trailed off and stared down at her plate and the few meager bites of pizza crust left there. Her parents didn't reply for a few agonizing seconds, but she could feel them staring at her even though she didn't meet their gaze.

"Carly, do you know what you're saying?" Her mother asked heavily, "Sweetie, you can't raise a baby robot! You can barely take care of yourself, and you have such a bright future ahead of you once you get your degree. Do you know how much work it is to take care of a child?"

"Yes, I do. _Believe me_ , I do," Carly replied as the last two weeks replayed in her memory, "But I don't trust anyone else to care for her, and...I don't know how to explain it, but she and I just click. It's like she and I were meant to be a family. She's a good person, but no one else is willing to give her a chance. Well, maybe Wheeljack, but I can't trust him to not accidentally explode her or something."

"How long do Junkions live?" Carly's father suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Carly asked dumbly; not used to her father cutting her off like that.

"Carly, you said once that the Autobots live for millions of years," Phil pointed out, "They are _robots_ , and robots don't die as quickly as humans, if at all. You can't raise Carnia because she will probably still be a child when you die. Then what? The Autobots will have to take her eventually. Get them to do it now, and save the little thing the grief of losing another mother. Think of the baby, Carly."

Carly's father's words cut her to the core. She hadn't even considered Carnia's lifespan. Carnia could be a sparkling for hundreds of years, depending on how old she was at the moment. That didn't even factor in things like frame upgrades, fueling, constant repairs to her rusting body parts, and raising an inherently alien being among humans and human culture. Suddenly this seemed wrong, but what could she do? Carly wasn't lying when she said she didn't trust the Autobots with her sparkling.

 _Her sparkling_. That had crossed her mind too easily. She was already thinking of the little troublemaker as her own.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Carly's mother shouted "Good heavens! What did you do to my stove!?"

Yes, this was the beginning of a long and trying experience. Somehow though, Carly knew she was doing the right thing by keeping Carnia around, even if their time together would, by Carnia's standards, be short.

Carly dug a small notepad out of her purse and wrote down the estimated amount of what it would cost to replace her mother's kitchen appliances. She knew it would be a good thing to start saving money back. She only hoped she could teach Carnia the concept of private property before they went bankrupt.


	4. People Are Alike All Over

_Author's Notes: I really wish I could've updated this sooner. I really like this story and I certainly won't let it go by the wayside. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter of "What a Waste" :)_

* * *

Chapter 4

People Are Alike All Over

Carly drove Carnia up Mount St. Hillary so they could get some more energon from the Autobot base. Carly had never been the motorcycle type before, but she found that she really enjoyed the way the wind whipped through her hair and sleeves. What she didn't appreciate was the bugs, the helmet hair, and flecks of rust flaking off of Carnia's body as they drove. Still, it was fun and was a good bonding exercise for her and her newly adopted sparkling.

The door opened for them and they drove into the parking area just inside the Ark. Carly saw that just behind them was Bumblebee and Spike, and she smiled at seeing her friends. It had been almost a month since Carnia moved into Carly's house and Spike had yet to meet the little Junkion.

Carly got off Carnia and Carnia transformed into robot mode. A few seconds later Spike got out of Bumblebee and Bumblebee transformed as well.

"Hey, Carly! Long time no see!" Spike greeted her; his face beaming with joy, "How have you been?"

"Great. I'm sorry I haven't come by this way lately. I'm still glad you call every day though," Carly replied with a warm smile of her own.

"Hi, Carly," Bumblebee waved as he walked closer, but then suddenly stopped in his tracks when he spotted Carnia, "Oh, uh, I see you brought the...Carnia. Hi, Carnia," He stammered nervously.

"Workin' hard or hardly workin'?" Carnia asked cheekily.

"Aww, so this is Carnia," Spike laughed as he walked closer to get a good look at her, "Hey there Carnia, my name is Spike. I've never seen a baby robot before. How are you?"

"No respect!" Carnia jabbed a thumb in the direction of the exit; where Bumblebee was quickly walking away, "It ain't the men in my life, it's the life in my men."

"Seriously Bumblebee, _again_?" Carly exclaimed hotly even though Bumblebee had already left, "It's been a month, and most of the Autobots are still scared of Carnia! I swear if it wasn't for Wheeljack and Skyfire I don't know what I would do. Why are they all acting like a bunch of scared rabbits? Carnia never did anything to them."

"Well, honestly I didn't expect Carnia to be so calm," Spike shrugged, "To hear Bee talk about her you'd think she stepped right out of Night of The Living Dead."

"They're coming to get you, Barbara," Carnia quoted a line from the movie.

Spike chuckled at her impression, and Carly was at least relieved that Spike didn't take the rumors about Carnia at face value.

"I just don't get it," Carly shook her head again once the moment turned solemn again, "I mean, I understand why they were scared at first. Carnia was an unknown element to them that came from a planet they don't understand, but they're _still_ afraid of her. Why?"

"I think I know why," Spike replied as he took Carly's hand.

Together the two teenagers walked down the orange hallways of the Ark with Carnia trailing behind them and trying to listen to their conversation.

"Carly, imagine that you learned of an alien race that lived close to our planet," Spike illustrated, "Astronauts find this planet to see what kind of alien life is there, only to find a group of aliens with limited intelligence that make their bodies using the bones, skin, and internal organs of our dead. If you came across a group of aliens that stole our body parts and had the mental capacity of zombies would you even stop to ask whether their intentions were good or not? Wouldn't it freak you out too much to worry about whether or not you were hurting their feelings?"

"Yes, at first," Carly counter-argued, "But if you spend a lot of time with someone would it really matter what they looked like?"

"Even if that someone was a rotting corpse?" Spike pointed out, "Look, I'm not saying it's right, but I am saying I understand where the Autobots are coming from. To them Carnia is a living rotting corpse. Her entire frame is made out of the bodies of dead sparklings. Her manner of speech is just imitations with limited thought. To them she's a monster."

"She's not stupid," Carly replied firmly; focusing on that specific aspect of Spike's wording, "Carnia might not be able to express herself well, but she _is_ smart. She can fix almost anything, and she likes to draw. She isn't good at it yet, but she could be. There are so many things she could be, but no one wants to give her a chance. The Autobots aren't usually this bigoted. I don't understand why they can't just get to know her. There's so much more to her than what she looks like, and I wish they could see it too."

"Have I ever told you about Autobot X?" Spike suddenly changed the subject.

"Um, no. Who's Autobot X?" Carly asked.

"For a while, I was," Spike replied; a melancholy shifting his features and tone, "It happened about a month before you and I met. My dad was working on an invention that could help the Autobots. It was a robot called Autobot X, and it was made using spare parts from around the Ark. Wheeljack loved the idea of working on this thing, but for some reason the others seemed wary of letting Dad build it. At the time I didn't know why, but now I do."

" _It's alive! It's alive!_ " Carnia suddenly screamed; startling the two humans that forgot she was right behind them, "In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!"

"Um, exactly," Spike shakily replied once he composed himself, "To the Autobots, Dad was trying to create life, which obviously he couldn't do without a spark. Well, they humored him since they knew he couldn't do anything with the robot, but that all changed after a fight with the Decepticons. Bumblebee and I got in the middle of it, and Megatron attacked us. Bumblebee was alright, but I...I suffered massive trauma to my head and body, and the doctors feared I wouldn't survive long enough for them to operate."

"That's terrible!" Carly exclaimed, "But you seem alright now."

"Yeah, because they were able to operate," Spike replied, "Dad and Wheeljack downloaded my brain's electrical impulses into the processor of Autobot X. It messed with my thoughts, and made me want to do bad things. Worst of all though, I saw how the Autobots looked at me. Like I was a monster. Wheeljack and Optimus were supportive, and Bumblebee was too, but most of the others just saw me as a freak. I guess it frightened them to see a hodgepodge of reject parts formed into a real living being. It would be like if Bumblebee's brain went into a reanimated human body. He'd still be my best friend, but it would be pretty disturbing."

"Well I can't see it that way," Carly replied stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Carnia isn't a dead body to me. She's a bright quirky little girl with a zest for life...and an encyclopedic knowledge of my VHS collection."

Spike and Carly both laughed at that last line, and Carnia laughed too even though she wasn't entirely sure what was funny. The three of them made it to Wheeljack's lab, but before they could even say hello they noticed that Wheeljack and Ratchet were running around and shoving weapons in their subspaces.

"What's going on, guys?" Spike asked curiously; a little worried at their hurried pace.

"Decepticons," Ratchet explained as he continued to pack medical equipment, "They're attacking a factory that manufactures cars. We think they're going to try to build another army."

"Don't tell Tracks," Wheeljack cautioned, "Remember what happened last time?"

"Vividly," Ratchet deadpanned; recalling an incident where Tracks had been stolen while in car mode, "Huh? Oh, Carly and Carnia are here. You ladies should probably stay here in case there's danger."

"But we can help!" Carly insisted, "If the Decepticons start programming cars to do their evil bidding you'll want a coder like me around to help you."

"I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!" Carnia shouted in a sing-song voice, "Operators are standing by to take your call. Limited time offer. Results may vary."

"Alright fine, just stay out of the combat zone," Ratchet sighed as he looked at the eager young faces on the trio, "Get in."

"That's okay, Carnia can drive me," Carly declined politely.

Carnia then transformed and Carly hopped on. Spike looked between Carnia and Ratchet, wondering if he should ask the girls for a ride or not.

"Hey Spike, goin' my way?" Carnia asked as she idled; indicating she wanted Spike to get on.

Spike grinned and got on the bike behind Carly. Together the group traveled with the other Autobots to the factory; the Autobots feeling dread and the kids feeling the sense of adventure.

* * *

The battle outside the factory was utter melee. Optimus Prime and Megatron were locked in hand to hand combat once again and everyone else was left to fend for themselves. Among the normal Decepticon warriors however was an army of non-sentient cars ready with newly installed weapons to attack the Autobots.

Perceptor hypothosized that there must be a device controlling the cars, so the Autobots sent Roller to record live footage of the inside of the factory. The place looked mostly intact and there were no people inside. Sure enough, there was a computer that was controlling the cars. They had to get in there and stop these mindless machines!

Carly snuck past the combatants with Perceptor and Carnia. They seemed to go undetected, but they all remained quiet anyway. Even Carnia was silent, being aware of the gravity of the situation due to all the fighting. If they could just turn off the signal that was going to the cars then the Autobots would have the advantage over the Decepticons.

They were almost to the console when suddenly the roof came crashing in to reveal the elite seeker trine! Starscream and his counterparts wore identical smug grins on their face plates as they leered at Perceptor. The microscope-former knew Carly could still deactivate the computer, so he shot at Thundercracker and ran in hopes of distracting them.

"Why that no good glitch!" Thundercracker growled as he held his servo against the missile launcher on his chassis that had been hit, "I'll kill him!"

"Good, take Skywarp with you," Starscream ordered with a sly smirk, "I see a little flesh creature that needs stepping on."

Thundercracker and Skywarp ran off after Perceptor while Starscream made his way over to the computer to stop the human girl from ruining their plans. Just as he predicted, she was already typing away trying to foolishly save her Autobot allies. Well, this was no challenge for the pride of the war academy.

"Freeze, earth germ!" Starscream ordered as he aimed his null ray at the blonde girl, "Step away from that console or you'll be vaporized."

Carly gasped when she saw Starscream's weapon so close to her, and she backed away slowly; feeling ashamed that she didn't stop the Decepticons as she had planned. She only hoped the Autobots would find another way to save themselves.

"Good human," Starscream purred; his smile widening to a crazed degree, "Now, say goodbye, Autobrat!"

Starscream was about to fire on Carly, but suddenly he felt a stinging sensation in his arm. He looked at it to find there were several dozen thin rusty quills stuck in his arm.

" _YAAAAH_!" Starscream screamed out in pain, "What is the meaning of this!?"

"Go ahead, make my day!" Carnia growled challengingly as she stepped out from behind a conveyor belt, "You feelin' lucky, punk?"

Starscream stared at the little creature, but he couldn't believe his optics. How could it be? It was a Junkion, but that was impossible. This little Junkion was on earth, and it could talk. Still, that murderous glare and primal stance was just as Junkion as the first time Starscream had ever seen it. There was really a Junkion on earth!

Starscream stumbled backward in an attempt to distance himself from the little savage. Junkions never travelled alone. If there was one then there were more, and this one was only a sparkling. Starscream did not want to anger this Junkion's parents, as their tribal protectiveness would cause them to rip him to shreds.

Thundercracker and Skywarp showed up then with a badly battered Perceptor held up by his arms. He was barely conscious, and Carly felt so angry when she saw the energon still draining from his wounds. She had to do something!

"We got a prisoner, Starscream," Skywarp announced proudly.

"You maniacs!" Carnia screamed at the top of her lungs, "You blew it up! You're _despicable_!"

"What's that thing?" Thundercracker asked inquisitively as he pointed down to the raving sparkling.

"Decepticons, retreat!" Starscream ordered quickly as he turned to fly away.

"But what about our prisoner?" Skywarp whined.

"Leave him and let's go!" Starscream demanded, "Hurry up you fools! Before more of them come!"

"Before more of what come?" Skywarp asked petulantly; upset at having to leave an Autobot prisoner behind.

Starscream didn't answer him. Instead he simply flew out of the factory. Carly had used this distraction to turn off the computer where the radio signal was coming from; disabling all the attack cars. Thundercracker and Skywarp didn't know what had gotten into their trine leader, but they were ordered to leave so they left.

Perceptor fell to the ground, no longer able to support his own weight. Carly and Carnia rushed over to him, and he groaned in pain.

"G-Get...Ratchet..." Perceptor choked out through gritted denta.

"I'm so sorry this happened Perceptor," Carly said as she placed her hand on a spot on his arm that wasn't dripping with purple energon, "Ratchet will fix this."

Carly ran out to try to find the medic, leaving Perceptor alone with Carnia. He was in too bad of shape to even be wary around the Junkion at this point. Carnia looked around the factory, and then looked back at Perceptor. The gears in her helm were turning, and soon she knew just what to do.

"Always trust your car to the femme that scares a Star," Carnia quipped; paraphrasing the original commercial jingle.

Perceptor was too close to stasis lock to even bother answering the sparking, which didn't concern Carnia as she scurried around the factory ripping out plating and wires on cars and industrial equipment. She quickly patched up Perceptor, and by the time Carly came back with Hoist (Ratchet was repairing Sideswipe) Carnia was almost done with the repairs.

"Well I say, she does a pretty decent job, doesn't she?" Hoist asked rhetorically as he observed Carnia in action, "Quite a talented sparkling you have there, Carly. Truly a marvel."

Perceptor finally came to his senses to see that his injuries were healed. Hoist gave him a cube of energon from his subspace so that Perceptor wouldn't suffer any permanent damage from the beating he took. Hoist also took that opportunity to scan the repairs and see how Carnia did them. Her methods were unconventional to say the least. Any medic would call her approach insane with all the mismatched parts and tangled fuel lines, but everything came together into a cohesive whole. Hoist hadn't actually met Carnia in person before due to the rumors, but now he was regretting that decision as the femmeling seemed to be a genius.

"Let's go home, Carnia," Carly said to her overworked sparkling, "You must be getting hungry by now. We can grab some energon from Wheeljack before we head home. I also rented Star Trek VI for us tonight. Does that sound good, sweetie?"

"Two to beam up," Carnia smiled happily before transforming back into motorcycle mode.

Carly laughed and got on the rusty bike. It had been the most exciting day they had together so far, but it wasn't really any more exhausting than what Carly had already gone through with caring for the sparkling so far. As they drove home one thing did bother Carly about their encounter with the Decepticons. Why was it that Starscream knew what a Junkion was but his trine didn't? Why wouldn't Starscream tell them about a discovery he had actually made in the first place?

* * *

 _Author's Notes: The original commercial jingle Carnia butchers is: You can always trust your car to the man that wears a star :)_


End file.
